“Thank you.” My heart rate had gone up a little until I realized Danon wasn’t trying to make me upset. He just wanted me to think deeply about statements and words.
“Back to Kirion. Tell me more about him.”
“Right. For everything he’s gone through—and you can imagine?—”
Danon nodded, brows narrowed.
“--there’s a fierce heart beating inside that one.”
“He’s a strong personality, then.”
“Smart. Strong. Raised in royalty. Luxury. But not too spoiled. Not like?—”
“Malin.” It wasn’t a question.”
“He’s not like Malin at all.”
“What I’m hearing is that when Malin rejected him it woke you up inside a little. He’s not right for Malin. In fact, maybe completely wrong for him. Is that the moment you realized your idea was maybe not well thought out?”
I drank more coffee to cover my confusion. Words were getting scrambled in my mind. Was that it? Was my mind going? “It was a ridiculous idea,” I confessed.
I lowered my head and stared at the now empty bottom of my mug.
“Not ridiculous. Just not like you. And that’s why you’re here. To talk about it.”
“I knew it was a stupid idea before Malin rejected him. But I set out anyway to accomplish my plan. I just—” I gulped. “I don’t know why I went to the auction. I kept thinking Malin needed someone. Something different. I repeated it in my mind like a mantra.”
I must’ve spoken a little loudly, because Danon reached out, softly speaking. “Okay. That’s fine.” He held up his other hand and asked the waiter for refills.
When we were settled with our hot drinks again, he said, “Is it different having someone else living at your house?”
“I have staff. Malin is in an out occasionally.”
“Yes, but this is different. Like a permanent guest, I suppose. Does it intrude on your space? Your privacy?”
I hadn’t thought about that. “No.”
“Well, that’s something. But you feel responsible for him, you said.”
“I am. I never turned him over to Malin. I bought him under my name. I’m the one who owns him.”
“You’re the one who brought him in. That was your choice.”
“Yes, but I wasn’t thinking. Right? Is something wrong with me?” I ended that question with a nervous laugh.
And we were right back to the question of why I’d done it while knowing Malin wasn’t going to want this, but Danon was too good at his job to ask again in those same words.
“Nothing is wrong with you.”
“But you think I did this for me, right?”
“I didn’t think anything. Or say that.”
“You didn’t have to.”
“You’re alone a lot. That’s all I’m saying. Malin is absent from your life even when he drops back home for a few days.”
“Again, I’ve told you, I have staff.”
